Curie, Marie

chemist (1867-1934)

Born in Poland as Manya Sklodowska, she is famous for her work on
radioactivity. In fact, she and her husband, Pierre, first coined that
word. She won the Nobel prize twice, first in 1903 (jointly
with her husband, and with Henri Becquerel) for the discovery
of radium and polonium, and again (by herself) in 1911 for the
isolation of pure radium.
The American Association of University Women provides this information on
Mme Curie's research.

"The year was 1919. Europe had been ravaged by World War I. And
radium was far too expensive for a scientist of modest means to
afford for experiments. Even one as famous as Madame Marie Curie.

As a result, Madame Curie's ground-breaking research had reached
a virtual standstill..."

AAUW members from Maine to California helped raise an astonishing
$156,413, enabling Madame Curie to purchase one gram of radium and
continue her experiments. Experiments that helped her create the field
of nuclear chemistry and forever change the course of science."

We find these three quotes attributed to her

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have
perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must
believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at
whatever cost, must be attained.

One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done

and

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood

Madame Curie ultimately died from leukemia ("aplastic pernicious anemia
of rapid, feverish development"); thought to be an effect
of her experiments with radiation.
Despite receiving two Nobel Prizes, Madame Curie was never admitted to
the French Academie des Sciences.

Today, a Curie unit is defined as the activity of 1 gram of radium; 3.7 x
1010 disintegrations (that's 10 to the 10th power).